XBox/Netflix via VPN HOWTO

Unfortunately Australia is way behind the rest of the world when it comes to online services. Digital streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are geo-locked, so if you try and access them from an Australian IP address your get the lame “not available in you country” message.

Thankfully VPN technology easily overcomes this. Here is a quick HOWTO on how to set this up with an Xbox 360, a linux server, and an internet connection.

These instructions should work for RHEL/CentOS 6.

Find yourself a VPN provider. The instructions below are for the PPTP protocol.

If you remove your default route before creating the VPN (as I do below), your machine will use the VPN as the default gateway for all traffic once the VPN is established. So before you do this, it’s a good idea to make a list of any hosts you wish to connect to via your old default gateway. You’ll need to add static routes for them.

To install the Netflix app, you’ll need a US silver xbox live account. There are plenty of guides on how to create one. Once you have a US live account, log in on your XBox and install the Netflix app. Then log out and back in with your gold account and you should be able to start using Netflix. Sign up for your free month and enjoy.